Messi leads Barcelona; Mbappe’s error costly
Three days after a rare poor performance in the Spanish league, Lionel Messi came back to normal Tuesday, scoring a hat trick in host Barcelona’s 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in the teams’ Champions League opener.
Ousmane Dembele also scored for Barcelona, which was up 3-0 when it was reduced to 10 men as defender Samuel Umtiti was sent off with a second yellow card for a hard foul in the 79th.
The Group B result extended Barcelona’s unbeaten run at home to 27 matches in UEFA competitions. The Catalan club has won 25 games and drawn two during the streak.
Messi had struggled in the team’s league win at Real Sociedad on Saturday. He put that behind him with a beautiful free kick in the 32nd minute to open the scoring at Camp Nou Stadium. He curled the ball over the PSV wall from 25 yards out into the top corner beyond the reach of goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet.
“Messi makes extraordinary things look routine,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. “The free-kick goal came just when we needed to break the game open. It was masterful.”
Dembele added to the lead with a well-placed shot from outside the area in the 75th, and Messi sealed the victory with goals in the 77th and 87th minutes.
Messi’s second goal came after he received a perfect pass by Ivan Rakitic inside the area and sent a low shot into the far corner. Messi completed his first hat trick of the season after Luis Suarez set him up on a counterattack.
Barcelona leads the Spanish league with four wins from four matches.
In Group B’s other match, Mauro Icardi volleyed in a superb equalizer for Inter against visiting Tottenham and Matias Vecino headed in the winner in injury time to complete a 2-1 win for the Italian club. Group C: Kylian Mbappe, the teenager widely viewed as capable of dethroning Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world, had a frustrating night in Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-2 loss at Liverpool.
He scored his 11th Champions League goal, but his mistake in stoppage time cost his club. After netting PSG’s equalizer in the 83rd minute, Mbappe was dispossessed by James Milner in the closing stages, giving Liverpool a chance to mount a final attack. Firmino collected a pass from Virgil van Dijk and fired a low shot into the far corner to seal the Reds’ win. Group A: American Christian Pulisic celebrated his 20th birthday by scoring on his return from injury to give Borussia Dortmund a late 1-0 win at Club Brugge of Belgium. Pulisicmade his 100th appearance for the club. In the other Group A game, Monaco was handed yet another home defeat, losing 2-1 to Atlético Madrid. Group D: Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann saved one penalty but was beaten by another as visiting Porto salvaged a 1-1 draw. Turkey’s Galatasaray defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 at home in the other group game. NWSL: Jessica McDonald and Samantha Mewis each scored, and North Carolina beat the Chicago Red Stars 2-0 on Tuesday night in a semifinal that was moved to Portland, Ore., because of Hurricane Florence. The Courage (18-1-6) will play the defending champion Portland Thorns for the league title Saturday, also on Portland’s home field.
The Courage took the lead on McDonald’s goal in the fifth minute. McDonald got past a Chicago defender, Santa Clara alum Julie Ertz, before blasting the ball past diving goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. It was her first playoff goal. Stanford’s Davidson out: Stanford junior defender/ midfielder Tierna Davidson, a member of the U.S. women‘s team, will be out 10-12 weeks with a left ankle injury sustained in a 2-1 win over No. 2 North Carolina on Sept. 9.
— Tom FitzGerald Onyewu retires: American defender Oguchi Onyewu is retiring, a year after he was released by Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union. The 36-year-old had six goals in 69 international appearances from 2004 through ’14.